Around October 1, 1879

In this day and age, newspapers rarely print fiction. Of course, there is the occasional magical story written by a third grade class that appears every once a week in the Arts and Entertainment section of the paper, but for the most part, fictional stories of real substance are not published in newspapers anymore. This was not the case in the 1800's. Appearing in The Valley Star each week was...

Every October, without fail, the Superintendent of the Alabama Insane Hospital released his report about the year that was. In October of 1879, Dr. Bryce, the superintendent, expanded his report, by including particular conditions and patient numbers, among other details. Averaging 400 patients, the hospital treated anything from pneumonia to cerebral softening to utter, indefinable insanity. The...

Music is a form of communication that does not require its attendants to share a common language, thus allowing it to serve as a unifying medium. The performance of the Stonewall Brigade Band of Staunton confirmed the friendship that existed between the two sister cities of the Valley of Virginia, Staunton and Winchester. The Brigade Band performed to the general delight of all present outside...

On September 19th a dispatch to The Enterpirse and Mountaineer of Greenville, South Carolina reported that The commercial circles were much agitated to-day by the announcement of the suspension of the banking and exchange house of James Adger &Co.' The failure of this bank was not only a significant financial blow to Charleston, but was also part of a larger story about the weakness of...

The coal miners of the Allegany and Garrett Counties in Maryland met on Wednesday, September 10, 1879 and decided to continue their strike. Two representatives from twenty-eight mines met in Lonaconing. Almost unanimously, the miners decided they would not work for less than fifty cents per ton of coal; the companies said they could not pay more than forty cents and that this was even too high to...

Prior to 1879, the Greenback Party had burst onto the political scene and presented a truly unique and radical voice in American politics. Although the Greenback Party's roots were with the miners in the Rocky Mountain States and with the farmers of the Midwest, the depression in agricultural prices following the Panic of 1873 allowed the party had made significant inroads among the Southern...

After months of one of the worst yellow fever outbreaks of the 19th century, the Memphis outbreak of 1879 is officially declared to be over after frost kills the germ. While the event had immense national significance, the gravity of the yellow fever outbreak to the city of Memphis cannot be overstated. Although the causes of the outbreak were uncertain at the time, many people pointed out that...

On October 28th, the South Carolina Supreme Court adjourned after making a series of significant rulings that signified the restored control by the white planter class after reconstruction. One such ruling regarded the Homestead Law, in which the South Carolina Supreme Court effectively ruled that land owners would have their land holdings exempt from repossession in the event of a debt default...

In the Virginia state legislature elections on November 4, 1879 the Readjuster party rose to victory over their Conservative Debt-Payer opponents by gaining 41 of 100 delegate seats, and 20 of 40 Senate seats. The Readjuster Party won the election on a platform of repudiating state debt, expanding education, and promoting the interests of African-Americans. They framed their message around rhetoric...

The Mississippi election of 1879 served as a reaffirmation of Bourbon power in the wake of the Greenback challenge to Democratic hegemony. The results of the November 4, 1879 were that the Democrats were once again able to assert political dominance over the state through voter fraud and intimidation. Moreover, the 12,000 vote total registered for the Greenback Party in the 1878 elections declined...